But, in truth, is it really a surprise? We have been suffering for years watching players who are nowhere near top-flight quality attempt to scrap for results against the big boys.

The likes of Carlos Sanchez, Charles N’Zogbia, Stephen Ireland spring to mind. Players just aren’t putting it all on the line for the club.

Under Randy Lerner, we have been in steady decline leading up to this season. He has been trying to sell the club for a few years but no investor seems willing to come forward and hop aboard the sinking ship.

The American even dropped his asking price from £200m to £150m but once again, no one stepped in.

We’re like a rubbish old plain ham sandwich in Tesco. We’ve got a yellow reduced sticker on us. But no-one wants us. Not even for 12p. They can’t give us away. We’re rotting away at the back of the shelf.

But all the blame cannot be placed on the Villa owner.

Yes, he made some poor decisions, including the appointment of Remi Garde, but Lerner has put a lot of money into my club.

We have spent around £100m on signings over the last five years. More than half of that was last summer!

Ten players came in – most of them flops – in a desperate attempt to replace the huge hole left by Christian Benteke and Fabian Delph.

Then boss Tim Sherwood offered us a glimmer of hope with the FA Cup final. Remember that year? Not even 12 months ago, apparently. It seems like a lifetime. The days before teenager Jack Grealish became ‘past it’.

Rumours arose that Sherwood did not have a say in the players bought in the summer, leading to a fallout between the former Spurs boss and club officials. Then came the bizarre appointment of Remi Garde from Lyon.